SD hiker still missing on Mt. Rainier

A San Diego man and his companion who failed to return from a camping trip on Mount Rainier, which has experienced severe winter weather in recent days, remained missing Wednesday, authorities said.

Mark Vucich

Mark Vucich

Mark Vucich

Mark Vucich, 37, and Michelle Trojanowski, 30, of Atlanta, began their trip Thursday and were supposed to return Sunday, said Mount Rainier National Park spokeswoman Patti Wold.

Their car was found in a parking lot at the 5,400-foot level — the camping areas are located from 7,000 feet to 10,000 feet up the mountain, Wold said.

Mount Rainier was blanketed with snow over the weekend, and a second storm that has moved in since then was expected to drop as much as 42 inches, Wold said. Temperatures were hovering around 15 to 18 degrees.

A search team assessed the conditions Tuesday afternoon but could only conduct a limited search because of zero visibility, extreme avalanche conditions and winds that were gusting up to 100 mph, Wold said.

The team members sunk 2 feet to 3 feet into the snow with each step, and their tracks were filled in behind them as they negotiated the trail, she said.

An extensive search by land and air will be launched as soon as weather conditions improve, but it is unknown when that will be, Wold said.

Vucich is an experienced hiker and camper who was working to become certified as a mountain guide, said Jack Anthony, the man’s uncle. Family members are nervous and worried, said Anthony, who lives in Colorado.

“We hope he is hunkered down,” Anthony said. “It’s not a good situation.”

He said the pair were equipped with sleeping bags, tents, food, and other provisions and equipment.

Wold said authorities expect that Vucich and Trojanowski, as well as two others from Springfield, Ore., who did not return from a hiking trip, are waiting out the weather before starting to descend the mountain.

Anthony said the family prefers to think that his nephew and friend are overdue, rather than missing.